TOP 5 ON GC FOR ORAM FOLLOWING ANOTHER SUPERB PERFORMANCE

James Oram finished in 5th place on the General Classification following a strong and determined ride on the fourth and final stage of Kreiz Breizh Elites.

Day 3 and Stage 4 of Kreiz Breizh Elites rolled out of the town of Guingamp, with the course guiding the peloton 151.8km towards the finish line in Rostrenen, where riders would tackle 6 technical laps of a finishing circuit before the overall winner of the 22nd edition of the race would be decided.

As in previous stages, it was a fast start with attacks coming thick and fast as several groups attempting to go clear. The elastic eventually snapped when the peloton split in two and James Oram, Hayden McCormick, Karol Domagalski and Tom Baylis found themselves in the front half of the race.

Small groups surged off the front half of the bunch but didn’t get too far before being swallowed up again by a flurry of eager riders.

Tom Baylis, the youngest member of the squad, spotted an opportunity and went clear on a solo move which saw the front half of the peloton sit up, allowing the two main groups to come back together.

Baylis stayed clear over the next 12km but with just under 70km of racing remaining and no one to work with Baylis made the decision to sit up, reserve some energy and wait for the main group to catch him.

Entering the finishing circuits with 60km to go, it didn’t take long before the peloton reared into life once more. Kiwi James Oram managed to slip away in a really strong group of 8 riders and they worked well together over the closing four laps, gaining a maximum advantage of 1 minute and 35 seconds.

The peloton kept chasing the 8 leaders, splintering into small groups in the process but they never brought the gap down to less than 50 seconds.

Into the bottom of the final climb James Oram launched his winning move but was overhauled in the final 200 metres to finish a very credible 4th place and securing 5th overall on the General Classification.

Oram was closely followed by Karol Domagalski who had a cracking ride on Stage 4, finishing in 10th position, whilst Tom Baylis narrowly missed out on a Top 20, crossing the line as 21st rider after a testing day in the saddle.